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Monthly Archives: December 2016

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11)

The prophets predicted it: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14); “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Jesus fulfilled it: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11); “She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

On Christmas we celebrate the deity of Jesus. We celebrate that “He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). We celebrate that what God promised, He fulfilled in Jesus Christ—the incarnate Word, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14). Jesus never ceased to be God, but rather, He took on humanity. He is fully God and fully man.

As Christians, we not only celebrate that Jesus came, but also that He lived a perfect life, died for our sin, was raised for our justification and is coming again. On Christmas and every day, we celebrate Immanuel, “God with us”.

Oswald Chambers once wrote “It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if things that happen were completely controlled by people. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and the exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.” This quote is found in the December 18th devotion entitled Test of Faithfulness from his devotional My Utmost for His Highest. The key passage for this devotion is Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose”.

If you’ve never read Oswald Chamber’s, you should. You’ll be blessed by his writing. It was ten years ago today that I got up that morning and read this devotion. Later that same day, I waited by the phone for a call to find out whether or not I still had a job with the company I had worked for sixteen years. When the call came, I found out I didn’t. I’ve always been struck by God’s graciousness in providing these words to me that morning. I needed them. I still need them. More and more, I realize it has always been about God’s faithfulness and not my own. In fact, in spite of my unfaithfulness, His still remains. I’m encouraged by that. I hope you are as well.

God’s sovereignty doesn’t always play out the way we had hoped for, but His faithfulness during difficult times is everything we could hope for. God is good. And every situation He ordains in our lives is ultimately for our good. Although that good might look a little different than what we might have envisioned, we can always trust His ways. The question is, will we? Will we be faithful and worship Him even during the difficult times?

“He who calls you is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

“…if we are faithless, He remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13)

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9)

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23)

I love the stories of God’s grace in the lives of the people in the Bible. I especially love the lessons that Scripture has to teach us about King David, a man after God’s own heart, yet a man who sinned greatly. David sinned on the biggest of stages and suffered heart wrenching consequences for those sins. 1&2 Samuel tells the story of David’s life, and his writings in the Psalms tell of his emotions at those various stages. Psalm 86 is a prime example of such a psalm. David was in trouble. There were people seeking to take his life, “O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seek my life.” (v.14). There’s no doubt that David brought some of his problems on himself. He found himself calling on God for mercy often. And though he sometimes stumbled, David’s heart was faithful to seek instruction from the Lord on how to better walk in truth.

I believe one of the reasons David’s stories are so loved is that they bear a resemblance to our own lives as Christians. Just as David did, we slip, slide and stumble through this life. David’s wide ranging emotions are much like ours. And you can see them clearly as they flow freely from his pen in the psalms. In his devotional Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon writes that the reason David’s psalms are so universally loved is that “no matter our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions”. He goes on to say that David “was an able master of the human heart because he had been tutored in the best of all schools—the school of heartfelt personal experience”.

The Christian life will always have its ups and downs. Our emotions will sometimes run wild and there will always be choices for us to make along the way—a choice to obey God’s way, or a choice to seek our own way. Which way will we choose? “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name”. That was David’s cry and God was merciful to hear that cry. Let that be our cry as well.